Singapore's Ezra Holdings Limited says that its offshore production operations division has secured a written confirmation of intent from an oil major for the long-term charter of a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading facility ("FPSO") for operation in Southeast Asia.

The charter is expected to commence in the first half of the financial year ending August 31, 2008 for up to four years (excluding an extension option of up to three years). The base charter period is worth up to US$265.65 million. Including the extension option, the charter is worth up to an amount of approximately US$397.25 million or S$624.87 million.

The Ezra fleet currently operates predominantly in the waters in Southeast Asia. The requirement for a FPSO is in conjunction with the development of greenfields and brownfields by the oil major concerned. The Ezra Group's offshore construction division is also looking at providing services in terms of construction and pre-fabrication work on new and existing structures and platforms, as well as transportation and assembling on site of infrastructure. Such offshore construction services are expected to involve vessels like Ezra's existing Heavy Lift Crane barge as well as its Accommodation Work & Crane Barge and 142-m DP2 Heavy Lift 360-men Accommodation Pipelay Vessel, the latter two currently under construction.

The charter of the FPSO is not expected to have a material impact on the Group's earnings per share nor tangible assets for the financial year ending 31 August 2007. Expansion into India

Ezra also says that its offshore chartering division has secured from an Indian conglomerate a contract for the charter of an AHTS vessel for operation in India. This contract marks Ezra's first entry into the Indian offshore support services market